The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has clarified that no military personnel were deployed to the polling stations across the country to intimidate voters on Election Day.
According to him, the general public should not pay attention to the cheap politics from the opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Addressing Journalists in Accra, the Information Minister said "No Military was sent to polling stations to intimidate voters. The Election Security Task Force itself has addressed the nation on instances that force had to be used. If someone goes to the polling station to snatch a ballot box, and the Military had to fire weapons to ensure that the election is not compromised, that is not sending the Military into a polling station to intimidate voters. The two are world's apart"
Justifying the number of voters who voted for the NPP in the recently held elections, he said "Let's analyse the two. We are looking at 2016 where 10 million people voted out of which there was a margin of some 900,000 between Nana Akufo-Addo and his challenger, John Mahama. The 2020 election had about 13 million voting, out of which a little over 500,000 margins was recorded, that for us represents a significant margin out of this new cohort"
The Minister of Information also commended the media for the extensive coverage before, during and after the December polls.
He said "The Government of Ghanaian wishes to congratulate the Ghanaian media for its role in the coverage of the 2020 Parliamentary and Presidential elections. The government is particularly enthused with the level of professionalism with which the Ghanaian media covered activities before, during, and after the 2020 general elections"
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stressed that the Ghanaian media was instrumental in assisting with voter education, civic rights, election day developments as well as reporting on and collation of results.
"While applauding your contributions, the government urges the media to uphold the excellence with which it has conducted its coverage of the 2020 elections. The government of Ghana is hopeful that with our collective efforts our country’s democracy will continue to be strengthened in a peaceful and sound environment" he added.
On Government back to work to wrap up business for the year, the Information Minister explained that President Akufo-Addo and his appointees are already back to work a day after the declaration of results.
"The President after his declaration as President-Elect by the electoral commission has been back at work today, performing his official duties at the (Jubilee House) while he continues to receive congratulatory messages from colleague heads of state from in and around the continent."
He furthermore hinted that Ghana generally is also being applauded by the global community and observer missions who monitored the conduct of the polls and especially the demonstration to the world that the country's young democracy is growing.
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith